here's the guy who counts votes on the senate side, arizona republican senator jon kyl. >> the country will not default whether or not there are savings in the process remains the question. at the end of the day, there will not be a default. >> dan balz is the national political reporter and the chief for "the washington post," and author of "the take." and beth reinhart is a political correspondent for the "national journal." welcome all of you. let's start with this week, dan. you've been around washington longer than everybody. i'm not just saying that because off grayer beard than i do, but this week of show votes is, we know that nothing is going to come about and any of these votes are going to pass, but why are they necessary? >> because, a, they don't have anything real to do. they feel they have to do something for a lot of the freshman republicans. they want to take these votes to show the people back home that they're doing exactly what they said they would do. but it's a, you know, it's a a charade and i think everybody recognizes that. we talked about, there's not going to